Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Heap of monitors - “After a day spent staring at a computer monitor, think of a book as a kind of screen saver for your brain”

My friend Jack was in the hospital when the new pastor from his church arrived. He sent a message that he would like the pastor to call on him. Before the pastor came to the hospital, Jack ordered an extra catheter bag from the hospital pharmacy. Since he was a pharmacist in the hospital, he knew the staff well enough to make such a request. Then he filled the bag with his favorite pale soft drink --Mountain Dew.

The new pastor soon arrived and they visited for a while. At one point, Jack reached down and picked up the bag from the side of the bed. He studied it for a moment and then said, "It looks a little thin. Maybe I'll run it through again." And he drank from it.

After the new pastor recovered from shock, he laughed with his new friend. And he discovered through the years that Jack brought a valuable gift to life -- laughter.

"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed," said Nicholas de Chamfort. And another merry soul made this wise observation: "Ever notice how everyone who gets a flat tire can laugh about it a week or a month later? The shorter the distance between the flat and the laugh, the healthier the body, the keener the mind, the stronger the spirit."